Now， why is Willis H. Carrier’s magic formula so valuable andso practical， psychologically speaking? Because it yanks us downout of the great grey clouds in which we fumble around when weare blinded by worry. It plants our feet good and solid on the earth.
We know where we stand. And if we haven’t solid ground under us，how in creation can we ever hope to think anything through?
Professor William James， the father of applied psychology，has been dead for thirty-eight years. But if he were alive today，and could hear his formula for facing the worst， he wouldheartily approve it. How do I know that? Because he told his ownstudents：
“Be willing to have it so … Be willing to have it so，” he said，because “… Acceptance of what has happened is the first step inovercoming the consequences of any misfortune.”
The same idea was expressed by Lin Yutang in his widelyread book， The Importance of Living. “True peace of mind，”
said this Chinese philosopher， “comes from accepting the worst.
Psychologically， I think， it means a release of energy.”
That’s it， exactly！ Psychologically， it means a new releaseof energy！ When we have accepted the worst， we have nothingmore to lose. And that automatically means-we have everythingto gain！ “After facing the worst，” Willis H. Carrier reported，“I immediately relaxed and felt a sense of peace that I hadn’texperienced in days. From that time on， I was able to think.”
Makes sense， doesn’t it? Yet millions of people have wreckedtheir lives in angry turmoil， because they refused to accept theworst; refused to try to improve upon it; refused to salvage whatthey could from the wreck. Instead of trying to reconstruct theirfortunes， they engaged in a bitter and “violent contest withexperience”—and ended up victims of that brooding fixationknown as melancholia.
Would you like to see how someone else adopted Willis H.
Carrier’s magic formula and applied it to his own problem?
Well， here is one example， from a New York oil dealer who was astudent in my classes.
“I was being blackmailed！” this student began. “I didn’t believeit was possible—I didn’t believe it could happen outside of themovies—but I was actually being blackmailed！ What happenedwas this：
The oil company of which I was the head had a numberof delivery trucks and a number of drivers. At that time， OPAregulations were strictly in force， and we were rationed on theamount of oil we could deliver to any one of our customers. Ididn’t know it， but it seems that certain of our drivers had beendelivering oil short to our regular customers， and then resellingthe surplus to customers of their own.
“The first inkling I had of these illegitimate transactions waswhen a man who claimed to be a government inspector cameto see me one day and demanded hush money. He had got documentary proof of what our drivers had been doing， and hethreatened to turn this proof over to the District Attorney’s officeif I didn’t cough up.
“I knew， of course， that I had nothing to worry about—
personally， at least. But I also knew that the law says a firm isresponsible for the actions of its employees. What’s more， I knewthat if the case came to court， and it was aired in the newspapers，the bad publicity would ruin my business. And I was proud of mybusiness—it had been founded by my father twenty-four yearsbefore.
“I was so worried I was sick！ I didn’t eat or sleep for threedays and nights. I kept going around in crazy circles. Should I paythe money-five thousand dollars—or should I tell this man to goahead and do his damnedest? Either way I tried to make up mymind， it ended in nightmare.
“Then， on Sunday night， I happened to pick up the booklet onHow to Stop Worrying which I had been given in my Carnegieclass in public speaking. I started to read it， and came acrossthe story of Willis H. Carrier. ‘Face the worst’， it said. So I askedmyself： ‘What is the worst that can happen if I refuse to pay up，and these blackmailers turn their records over to the DistrictAttorney?’
“The answer to that was： The ruin of my business—that’s theworst that can happen. I can’t go to jail. All that can happen isthat I shall be ruined by the publicity.’
“I then said to myself： ‘All right， the business is ruined. Iaccept that mentally. What happens next?’
“Well， with my business ruined， I would probably have tolook for a job. That wasn’t bad. I knew a lot about oil—there wereseveral firms that might be glad to employ me… I began to feelbetter. The blue funk I had been in for three days and nights began to lift a little. My emotions calmed down… And to myastonishment， I was able to think.
“I was clear-headed enough now to face Step III—improveon the worst. As I thought of solutions， an entirely new anglepresented itself to me. If I told my attorney the whole situation，he might find a way out which I hadn’t thought of. I know itsounds stupid to say that this hadn’t even occurred to me before—
but of course I hadn’t been thinking， I had only been worrying！ Iimmediately made up my mind that I would see my attorney firstthing in the morning-and then I went to bed and slept like a log！
“How did it end? Well， the next morning my lawyer told me to goand see the District Attorney and tell him the truth. I did preciselythat. When I finished I was astonished to hear the D.A. say that thisblackmail racket had been going on for months and that the manwho claimed to be a ‘government agent’ was a crook wanted bythe police. What a relief to hear all this after I had tormentedmyself for three days and nights wondering whether I shouldhand over five thousand dollars to this professional swindler！
“This experience taught me a lasting lesson. Now， whenever Iface a pressing problem that threatens to worry me， I give it whatI call ‘the old Willis H. Carrier formula’。”